Castilian galeons.
Don Melchor Portocarrero Laso de la Vega, Count de la Monclova. XXIX. Viceroy of New Spain. 1686–1688.
The Conde de Monclova, surnamed "Brazo de Plata" from the fact that he supplied with a silver arm the member he had lost in battle, arrived in Mexico on the 30th of November, 1686, and immediately devoted himself to the improvement of the capital, the completion of the canal which was to free the city from inundations, and the protection of the northern provinces and the coasts of the gulf against the menaced settlements of the French. He despatched several Spanish men of war and launches to scour the harbors
and inlets of the eastern shores, as far as Florida, in order to dislodge the intruders; and, having obtained control over the Indians of Coahuila he established a strong garrison, and founded a colonial settlement, called the town of Monclova, with a hundred and fifty families, in which there were two hundred and seventy men capable of bearing arms against the French whom he expected to encounter in that quarter.